Bye bye Chester

Something terrible has happened. My darling cat Chester has tragically and unexpectedly passed away. It happened on Thursday March 15th, and it started with a phone call at 7:27am from my distressed house mate. I was staying with Josh in the city the previous night and was going to go to work in the morning, so i was surprised to hear from him at such an early hour. The phone call was to tell me that he had found Chester in the driveway, not alive. Of course I freaked out. I thought I might vomit. I didn't know what to do. He came to get me which is a good move as walking in the rain and catching 2 trains back home then walking home to find my cat would not be great. 

When we got back, I was relieved to see that he had seen to my wishes that Chester be covered up so he wouldn't be rained on. He and a neighbour wrapped him and put him in a crate, then placed him in my garage. It was there in the cold and musty garage that I could kneel next to him and really cry as I gently stroked the fur on is leg. The grief was strange and overpowering, this is the first dead body I have really been around. I only touched him gently because if I applied pressure I  felt the un-natural stiffness of his muscle which disturbed me. His tail upset me further because it was up in the air, and his eyes wide open. I felt like he couldn't be gone because he looked so complete, the only thing missing was inside, and snuffed out so quickly and mysteriously. 

This is the first pet that I have had full responsibility for, and it was up to me to make sure I always do the right thing by him. I blamed myself of course - for getting another kitten, leading to his surliness and aggression towards both me and Peanut, and the panic he displayed when I tried to keep him inside the house or worse- in my room to sleep on my bed like old times. I figured I had caused him to want to be outside and get in cat fights for the first time in his life and get these infections. I thought he may have had a bad reaction to the very recent flea treatments. The vet had recently told me that he was in good health. He had a heart murmur which could be a problem though. My neighbour believes that the electrical storms that night had frightened him to death. I would like to believe that too. Better than another fight or an infection or him being hit. I feel like he didn't know he was going to die because he was out in the open. I thought cats disappeared to die. I guess it's all speculation. 

That day I also dug my first, and hopefully last, grave. I furiously tried to dig it all myself but the hard clay got the better of me and my house mate and i took turns. It took forever but finally I could lay Chester to rest in the place he always loved to nap. The rest of the day involved constantly teary eyes, some grief beers, visiting a nursery with my family to pick a commemorative plant for the spot, and staring into nothingness for long periods of time. I settled on some nice purple flowering plants so that one day I can cut them to remember him. 

Well, that was one of the shittest days ever, but I wanted to write about it because over the years I have written lots about Chester. He was loved by so many people, and my neighbours are all very sad to see him gone too. Such a terrible shame, and I wish it never happened. But, what can you do. That's life, as they say. Bye Bye Chester.

Vets Vets Vets

Welp, I took my cat Chester to the vet again today – third time now. If you don’t know chester, he’s an 8 year old ginger family cat (who actually belongs to me). He is pretty much one of the best dudes that ever lived. These days he’s going through a bit of a ‘rough patch’.  Always out, never answers my calls, picking on his litter sister, and now... fighting. He keeps getting beat up too. I wonder when he will actually get sick of being pulverised and be too scared to venture out. He has too much pride I guess. 

Anyway this time it was a cat bite to the face. It got all swollen and infected and looked like a golf ball was stuck in his throat, but over to the left side. Luckily he popped it today himself and they didn’t have to ‘lance’ it. (Note: Lance is a weird name for a person. Other funny verb names: Pirouette, Strum, Gulp, Scream, Swallow.)

I opened the door this morning to find Cheds vomiting on the driveway. It looked like spit/bile so I did the whole call the boss thing, then had to wait an hour before the vet opened so I could get an appointment. The original appointment was around lunch time, but of course I couldn’t find Chester anywhere, even walking around the street shaking a box of cat food half an hour before the vet appointment. I freaked out a tiny bit thinking he’d gone off to die somewhere warm and quiet. Josh was asleep in the middle of a split shift and I woke him up to have a bit of a moment. The search went on for a few hours in preparation for the re-scheduled appointment. At one point my housemate found a pile of cat vomit a few houses away (half-digested little sponges in the shape of fish and circles) so I thought it was a sign he was around. Presuming it was his, which I did but didn’t want to believe it because I pictured him gagging all the way down the street.

Anyway the vet was a young guy called Dennis. I reckon he puts on this authoritative air, but he would only be max 27. Maybe he has to put one on because he’s so young and needs to create the respect and trust in his abilities. There didn’t seem to be much of an age gap, but we were worlds apart. I also do this- act more responsible to others than I really am. I can see myself one day rebelling against societal pressures and living out in the forest just finger painting all day. Just a matter of time. Anyway, Dennis was nice-looking but looked like he hasn’t had a super fun life, maybe he has the kind of parents who ...  well, who would call their son a past-generational name like Dennis, thus extinguishing any chance of him becoming a party king or at very least a ladie’s man. (This does not apply to Dennis from Always Sunny).

Maybe Dennis is one of those guys who goes to parties with his friends who he might only see every few weeks and is slowly drifting apart from because he works so much. At the parties he is the quiet one, who doesn’t drink too much and is pretty reserved and drives home early, just as everyone is tipping over the edge into drunkenness. He slips out and people barely remember he was there. God I hope I’m imagining wrong about Dennis. He was good at the job but not so personable, I tried to get a little banter going but he wasn’t interested. Maybe I’m just a repulsive person? (‘Aha moment’ right there!)

So this Dennis, he also had a braces lisp, the one that sounds like it’s at the back of your teeth. He may have been wearing a plate even. He had so many teeth in his mouth, kinda like the guy from Glee (Kevin McHale). Is it weird that I didn’t even have to Google his name, I just knew it? Possi-proba-maybe. He also had bags under his eyes- they looked almost like bruises –all purple and pink- under his thin pale skin. I wonder how much sleep he gets, or if he’s into the pet medicine supply? I wonder if he could tell from the scar tissue/scab on the bite that I had left this go for a few days and that’s why he was being not so jovial – because he could tell I’m not the best at putting my cat’s needs first? 

Well I was actually trying to hold off until the weekend to get to the vet because 1) pay day is tomorrow and vets are expensive and 2) because my boss decreed that from now on you couldn’t take a sick day unless you had a certificate. This naturally put me off a bit because I took one last week without going to the doctor and an email was sent the very next day to all staff with the new law of the land (which I have a feeling isn’t even legally valid).

Maybe when I called my boss in the morning of the sick day and he invasively asked me what was wrong I shouldn’t have given him a strange answer like “Well...I just don’t feel up to it today”. What else would I say? Perhaps I should have gone into detail about periods or diarrhoea or something. Maybe that’s what he was after all along? His reply was “Not...up to it. (pause) Seeya!” and hung up on me. I guess he’s a busy guy. Maybe he was boiling eggs for breakfast and realised at that moment they had been on for exactly 3 minutes and he had to run off immediately to catch them before they turned rubbery. What he probably meant to say was “I understand, thanks for calling me. Hopefully I’ll see you at work tomorrow because I value you not only as an employee, but as a person too.” Yeah, I’ll keep telling myself that.

Back to the vet. It all went well although Dennis kind of walked out on me. There were 2 doors in the room, one to the waiting room and one to the secret back vet corridor, and he said thanks and then went in the secret corridor. I presumed  we were done and that I should let myself out. I’m used to doctors and vets standing up and opening doors for you etc. A hang-up and a walk-out in 7 days. Wow, I really must be an arsehole of a person, guess I must have deserved it though. Ha! :)

the missy / chester conundrum

Things have not been improving. This is Chester (cat) and Missy (dog) in January on their first meeting...

And this is them last week (after living together for a few days). As you can see, Missy LOVES chester, but he is not interested. She only wants to lick his face or butt-hole constantly.. what's wrong with that?!

But you can't get mad at her for too long for being cheeky, cos before you know it she is curled up on your bed looking at you with those puppy dog eyes...

Even the day that she chewed Maki's sunglasses up and got into my dirty clothes pile and cleaned my undies for me... thanks Missy... 'Preciate it.

oh what a night!

why hello there! Care for a story? Well first let me give you a synopsis:

Jade Kelly takes us on a magical and fearsome journey in which we see her scale barbed wire fences and run through paddocks with a flashlight and a box of Whiskas cat food in the frantic search for her beloved cat Chester.

Intrigued? Thought not. Haha. Anywhom I will tell you the story nonetheless. Last night started out as normal as any other night. I arrived home and complained about being hungry while i stood alternatingly in front of the fridge and pantry thinking of what to make for dinner. I had gotten one step further than usual... this time I knew vaguely what I wanted: Japanese. I couldn't be bothered going to the supermarket to buy fancy things so I improvised. I cooked up some rice, made a quick salad, got a can of tuna, defrosted 3 Gyoza from the batch I made, and got out a block of dry tofu I had bought that day. Here's what I ended up with:



It was amazing. I am a huge fan of tofu cooked in this way. I made a quick marinade of white miso, mirin and sesame oil and rubbed it all over, then put it on the grill pan. The little black lines were simply the charred marinade, and it was delicious! Maki tried some and said it tasted like a big pancake. It was yum! After I ate Maki suggested we go for a quick walk before Bear Grylls started at 8.30pm, so we got on our walking shoes and set off. Only problem was that Chester started following us. Usually he gets scared after a while and turns back and goes home. This time he followed us further than ever before.

There is a park at the end of the street, and usually he doesn't like going in. This time, maybe because there were 2 of us, he followed us all the way in about 20 meters behind meowing because he was frightened, then a dog saw him and charged. Instead of the normal cat reaction of "GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE QUICK!!" He just crouched down and watched the dog run at him and circle him barking. I yelled out but he didn't react. The owner sauntered over and explained that 'Nitro' wouldn't hurt a fly. They had this weird mexican standoff where the both just lay staring at each other. The owner thought it was really funny because his dog was wagging it's tail indicating it wanted to play, but Chester was not reacting at all. He said that his dog thought Chester was a dog too.

We kept walking and thought Chester would turn back, but he kept coming, his little bell jingling. It was soon to the point where he had followed us so far that we couldn't be bothered cutting our walk short just to take him home - we should have done that ages ago if we were going to do it at all. So we decided we'd just keep walking and he could follow his scent backwards and go home as he had done before, albeit over a shorter distance. After a while he stopped following and we climbed through a fence and did a lap of the school oval then walked back home waiting to see him rolling around in the yard at 8.30pm - perfectly timed to watch Bear Grylls from my lap.

This wasn't so. He was nowhere. So we grabbed torches and his cat food box and set off again. We got aaaall the way to the schoolground again and saw this weird tent/rubbish pile thing and 2 shiny little eyes staring back at us from a distance. We thought it might be him so i shook the cat food box again (this is a proven way of communicating with him) and heard his bell jingling. 'What a relief!' i thought, 'He can hear us now, he will come over here and we can go home!'. WRONG. The problem was he was fenced in this paddock by a barbed wire fence, with that and a canal seperating us from him. We crossed the bridge over the canal and Maki jumped the fence abandoning his flashlight. I was standing there trying to light his way and illuminate Chester's eyes so we could keep track of him. Mel called me because Maki had left his phone at home and was meant to let her in so she could pick up something. I told her what was going on, and said I had the spare key to the house with me and that we wouldn't be long. I was wrong.

Eventually Maki got Chester and carried him back to the fence, and when they were about 1 meter away a noise spooked Chester and he used Maki's neck as a starting block and took off back into the paddock. Maki tried for another 10 minutes to get him from the tall weeds near the fence but there were dogs barking and he was freaked out by everything- including us. We got another near success when we coaxed him to about 5 meters from the fence and then this band of Mauri teens came along. One on a bike, one with a flashlight, another had a girl on his shoulders, and then there were a few others playing music from their phone and singing and laughing. Chester ran off again as they approached. Maki asked them nicely to keep it down as we were trying to find a scared cat. "Sorry bru" one said. "Shh, they're trying ta find tha ket!" another said.

After it seemed Maki was having trouble again, I slid my phone, keys, flashlight, and cat food under the fence and climbed up and over. I got pricked by the barbed wire (luckily it was old and dull) and it ripped a few holes in my newish bonds track pants. I traded places with Maki and went after Chester, he just kept walking away from me. I grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and could almost hear the victory bells ringing as I walked back to the fence with him seemingly calm. Well, he was calm until Maki climbed back over the chain fence and the noise freaked him out. I had to clamp his front paws in my hand and crush his body to mine as he was trying to buck out of my grip. Maki was over and beckoned me to the end of the fence where there was a small gap enough for a cat to be passed through. I lost hold of him 3 times standing in that corner, grabbing him by a fistful of skin and fur each time to drag him back. First time by the scruff, then his back, then his side. I have never handled him so roughly before and didn't really even realise what I was doing to him, or what he was doing to me with his claws. Eventually i got him under control and threw him through the gap. He was going too crazy for Maki to grab him. He hit the ground running and bolted off into the night with Maki in hot pursuit. I suddenly found myself on the wrong side of the fence with both flashlights... again. I went up and over, tearing a few more holes in my butt, and could only blindly guess which direction they went. Luckily it was towards home. Chester seemed to kind of know the right way to go...

I snuck back through the gap in the other barbed wire fence on the other side of the bridge and walked back along the canal toward home. I heard Maki's voice about 1/3 of the way along. He was crouched beside a mass of tangled vine which had been growing on someone's back fence and taken it down many years ago. Chester had cleverly got himself nestled right in the middle of the tangled mess and was meowing for assistance. It was then that I saw the blood all over my hands and felt the stinging for the first time. We crouched there panting for a few minutes trying to get Chester to come toward our voices. Maki went home with the spare key to let Mel in because we had kept her waiting in our driveway for ages, thinking we'd be back soon. I was now alone with both flashlights and no communication with Maki as he didn't have his phone. Chester's meows seemed to be getting closer after about 5-10 minutes of me coaxing him toward me, and finally he stuck his head out to sniff my finger and i grabbed him by the scruff HARD and drabbed his limp body out. Cats freeze up when you grab them like that, it's strange. I thought for sure he would claw my face off and run off again but I think he had calmed down a bit seeing as we were away from cars and barking dogs. I held him against me and pocketed the flashlights and was awkwardly carrying the cat food too. I could have just left the stuff there and gone back for it, but nooo I always do things the hard way. I was praying that he didn't get spooked and bolt so i quickly called Mel to tell her I found him and was on my way back.

I was almost near the park when Maki appeared out of the dark and grabbed the food and a torch so I could clutch Chester with both hands. He could hear cars near the park and was trying to get away again. I was giving him the old "Don't you dare pull this shit now, not again!" lecture. Part of me thought if I let him get away he would follow us home seeing as he knew the park...but then I visualised him up a tree and clutched him harder. I could tell that he knew his location when we emerged from the park and stepped into our quiet street. I had his belly against my chest, back legs sprawled like a frog and had his head and front paws clamped down to my shoulder. Once we got inside and into the light, I put him down and watched as he casually strolled to his food bowl and had a feast of water and Whiskas which we had been shaking in his face for the past hour or so. While i inspected my wounds:

and looked for the dettol, he just lay down and didn't move for a while:

Does this look like a traumatised cat to you? No, not really... more tired. I worried that I had hurt his body by manhandling him, squashing his paws, grabbing his fur and skin, crushing him against me etc.. but he wasn't reacting when i pressed on his legs and back testing for pain. Also he had crazy dandruff all over his back from where i was grabbing him, and it was allll over my clothes, as well as half of his fur. So new rule in the house: Next time you go for a walk, lock Chester INSIDE! Little crazy cat. Needless to say, I slept like the dead and this morning got some strange looks on the train as my scratches and slices were still bright red :O

spontaneous combustion

I will explain that little reference later! Firstly, let me catch you up on some things that have been happening of late. While in Nagambie the other week, I fell in love with a farmhouse kitchen hutch at the local antique store. Nobody understands my love for it. All i know is that I LOVE it. Let me re-iterate... L.O.V.E! It is pretty wrecked but i like history that goes with it.

This hutch, more affectionately known as "Billy" was built in the back shed of a local farm in country Victoria. Once built, it was proudly moved into the main house - positioned right in the kitchen, next to the family table. It wasn't long before all the hooks were filled up with graters and colanders, and even Mum's special tea cup as the family grew. Even the ole meat grinder made it to Billy's edge. One day, years later, Mum blearily stumbled into the kitchen at dawn to make a cup of tea before the day commenced, and to her horror discovered her beloved hutch was gone. All of her kitchen trinkets had been moved to the floor where the homey structure once stood. Nobody knew what had happened to it, and Mum was flamin' mental - for lack of a better Australianism. Unbeknownst to Mum, her 22 year old son Peter had taken it to his shack, which he had been slowly furnishing so he could run away from his abusive father. Peter wasn't very good at looking after himself and sadly died sometime later, in his shack in the middle of the bush with nobody to pray his soul to the next life. It wasn't long before drifters moved in, and began using the hutch as a place to skin animals for their meagre bushman dinners. Eventually the drifters moved on, and the shack sat there virtually untouched for nearly 30 years. Only birds and other critters moved into the doors, creating nests in the safety of its country womb. Some mushroom hunters stumbled across the shack one day in the late 1990's and decided it would be the perfect place to set up a meth lab. That carried on for a while until the Police received a tip-off and shut it down. The hutch became evidence for some time until the Police all decided it was too feminine to keep in the station and had to go, so it was sold at a Police auction like on the Simpsons! A nice old lady bought it, and gave it a good home until she passed a few years later. This is when the man from the Nagambie Antique store found it when her family held a garage sale for all of her belongings. Then in came me.

Whoa. Anyway here is Chester in a bow-tie:


He was celebrating my birthday with a red bowtie - to fit in with the red theme of the little party i held at home.

I got very spoilt, and my friends made me all kinds of goodies (ie. Cookies and cake)! I kind of mangled the rainbow cake when i cut it up. It was a giant cupcake with yummy icing :) I hear it took Michelle and Jess 5-6 hours to make!!!!!

A few people got really into the spirit! The next day Josh's step-bro went to get me some coffee while i started the clean-up... and it was in this weird product placement cup!!

As i was walking around drinking it, Maki realised my foot was gushing blood..

EEEEWWWWWW - i should have warned you not to look...

EXPLANATION: DO NOT DRINK OUT OF PRODUCT PLACEMENT CUPS OR YOU WILL SPONTANEOUSLY COMBUST STARTING WITH THE FOOT

Anyway that was LASSTTT weekend, and then my birthday was after that sometime - i will take some pixxx of my cool presents!! On Saturday just gone I went around to my dad's place cos my bro DK had gotten me a present. Turns out it was "Liquid Smoke"! I thought i took a picture of it, but i guess not. He got it from "USA Foods" in Moorabin. Here's what else he got..

Woah. So many lollies. So many... American... lollies. Yeah anyway so now that my Crater Face car is operational, Josh and I took him for a little spin up to Trentham to get some nice Red Beard Bakery Pies for lunch. It was a slow start cos we are kiiiinda obsessed with watching True Blood so we watched 2 eps while we drank coffee in bed, and THEN hit the road:

Awwwww yeah! My boss got me those dice for my work b'day party. We buy eachother $2 presents :D awesome present Steve, awesome present!

Josh and I got out of the car and went wandering around, and saw these cool train tracks...

And then after that long lazy day I went home and capped the night off with some nice tea - in beautiful teacups courtesy of my friend Simon - for my Birthday!

I think i now have a teacup fetish.... I want to get my own tea-pot!!! OMG I AM TURNING INTO MY MOTHER!

muckin' about & VEGAN MABO DOUFU

Heyyy Brotherrr(z)! After my last post, I bet you thought I would have chained myself to the VCR and watched all of my home movies right? Wrong. I have only watched a few bits more. It's hard cos I'll only watch them alone or with a family member - I don't want to subject my housemates to that haha! I did see a Christmas tape from 1988 so i was 1.5yrs old and was so fat and placid. All i wanted was the chocolate. I was happy to share any of my toys with my hyperactive older brother, and I wasn't really interested in opening any presents. Just wanted that sweet sweet Freddo Frog. T'was rather cute though. Instead of that I have been just hanging out and cooking! I haven't really taken many pics cos i suck BUT let me tell you that adding mustard to curry is AMAZING! Here is a photo I took on the weekend when i couldn't stop singing that Italian song that sounds all dancey...i think its called "we speak no americano"... crazy

It is a moth on the roof. Not sure how its wings are stuck and its whole body is hanging down. Oh also, I bought a car on the weekend to replace my beloved EBI which was stolen from me about a month or so ago. It is hail damaged so i got it for cheap, see:

There were these crazy storms in Melbourne a few months back and all these cars got SMASHED! So I picked up this 2003 Nissan Pulsar for a total of $6,000 with all the warranties/RWC/VIV/Rego etc etc. Pretty sweeet! I just spoke to the VIV office again and they said it could be another 2 weeks before they can inspect the car and say "no, its not stolen." UGGHHHH!! Patience jade, patience.. soon enough you will have your awesome replacement MANUAL GOLD CAR! YAY! Sorry if that sounded crazy talking to myself there...

Oh also, My mum bought her puppy a little pet house but the puppy is too big, so mum thought Chester might like it. See for yourself:

I think he likes it to a degree :) He can barely fit in it though. But cats like those confined spaces don't they?

Ok well I know I said that I didn't take pictures of the meals i have been making, but last night I did! Even though I have a cold and my taste function is pretty much dead, I cooked a dish that I have been thinking about for a while! It is called Mabo Doufu. It's a chinese dish involving Silken Tofu and ground beef. It's popular in Japan and I had it there a few years ago as part of a delicious Lunch Set. On a whim on Monday I bought 2 tubs of silken tofu from the Asian Grocery at 99c each, then I had to think what to cook. That's when I remembered this delectable dish! I found a vegan version online and changed it to suit my tastes, and even though I couldn't taste it, I know it was FABULOUS (sorry, just practising for Sex and the City 2)! Josh and Hayden both raved about it, so I'm pretty sure this recipe won't kill you.

~

VEGAN MABO DOUFU

~

1 Tub silken tofu

1 Tin Sanitarium Vegie Casserole Mince (see picture below)

3 Tbsp Sesame Oil

1 chili pepper, minced. (or chilli powder to your liking)

1 small onion, minced

3 Button mushrooms

1/2 leek, minced (white part)

1 Clove Garlic, minced

1 Tbsp ginger, minced

2 Tbsp Soy Sauce + 1tsp Sugar

2 Tbsp Cornflour + 1/2 Cup water

(Optional: Miso Paste - i forgot to add this - SHITFUCKSHIT)

Spring Onion for garnish

1) Very gently wrap the silken tofu block in a tea towel and place on a plate to soak up liquid.

2) Heat the oil and add Onion, Garlic, Ginger, Leek, Mushrooms and chili. Fry until onions are soft

3) Cut the tofu into 1cm squares. Be gentle as you want little cubes in the finished dish.

4) Add the vegie casserole mince and stir to combine.

5) Add Soy/sugar mixture and stir.

6) VERY GENTLY add the tofu. Lightly push everything around to mix. Try to be careful not to break the tofu

7) Cover and cook on a low heat for about 10 mins.

8) Add the cornflour/water mixture. Gently stir, you will see it thicken immediately!

9) Taste and add extra flavours if you wish. I added pepper and some vegie oyster sauce.

Here is how I served it:

I used the Rice Cooker to cook the rice, and when it was done i used a 1 cup measuring cup and packed it tightly with Rice, and then tipped onto a plate. It was actually a bit much for me, but a 1/2 cup looks too small :P I also stir-fried some asian greens along with it. So it was pretty healthy and easy and delicious (i think). Do try!

images of life of late

so... it didn't take long for my beautiful chalk board to get covered in veiny throbbing phallis's's's... drawn using phallic sticks of chalk no less! thank you Josh and Hayden for your artwork contributions. actually it has been up for about 1.5 weeks now, i probably should rub it off.. heh. get it?

also, chester has 3 new friends at the new house. This is friend #1.

We gave him a name but I cannot remember what it was... Oh man, i just remembered i left chester inside today and nobody will be home until like 9pm to let him out... plus he was in all night so he is totally going to shit somewhere... fucking hell..

i went to visit my dad's sister on the weekend for the first time in years. This was in the backyard...

and this in the front yard...

i must get one, my citrus is struggling.

Also, this is the new way of life at my new place, seeing as we now live behind the supermarket. Basically we walk to the supermarket, get a traveller for the 2 minute walk home... and then cook dinner. Well, it's a bit pre-emptive to say it's the new 'way of life' considering we have only done it once in 2 weeks, but y'know how i like to exaggerate :P

oh and then this little guy wanted inside..

Just after this, the ghost in our house opened the LOCKED front door and freaked me and maki out. Doors and things move in the house, it is a bit scary considering it is a new(ish) house. maki said the dishwasher door fell open while he was watching tv. we started remeniscing about scenes from Paranormal Activity and got more scared. I suggested having a seance and Maki agreed but then i realised i was all talk and actually dont want to. We tried one once ages ago but nothing happened.

easter weekend shenaniganz

Hello readers! long time, no see! My last post left a lot to the imagination, and what you didn't know was that I made some vegan bolognaise for dinner that night- and it was good. I mean real good! The next night my cousin Bec came over - all the way from the South of Australia just to sample that very sauce! Well, perhaps I like to imagine my food is that great, but the truth is she came to hang out with ME! So I guess i really am pretty good! I used the left over sauce and made a great vego lasagna! It was a delicious dinner, and the whole gang was there: Bec, Me, Josh, Hayden, Maki, and Mel... and of course Chester! Here is Bec showing off her new fashion accessory:

It's actually a type of fascinator primarily worn at the races, designed with the 'kitchen grater' theme in mind. Pretty chic if I do say so myself! I love the tomato sauce effect on the side - really makes it look like she just plucked it from the sink. Gorgeous! Here are a few more shots of how we spent our Easter Sunday...

chilling on the couch

watching in awe as the Dark Bunnies formed their ranks for an attack on the non-vegan easter chocolates. And here's me thinking that vegans were pacifists.. *shrug*

Went to visit my brothers and we got some fish and chips - about the only thing that was open on Easter Sunday around my place. $6 lunch pack awwwww yeah!

We may have spent some time at my dad's place skipping through scenes in Lord of the Rings to see Brett from Flight of the Conchords, followed by an easter egg fight - 2 of which got wedged under my brothers caboose and remainded there until melted and then had to be removed by my little bro. This happened twice more at my place. Mercy me!

This is my old thermostat from my car. My dad had a look at it when my car kept overheating and said it was definately broken. Having never seen a thermostat before I wasn't sure how he could tell that from simply looking at it... but i'd say the rust is a pretty good indicator.

I had my family over for a roast on Easter Sunday night, and mum brought us over these frankenstein easter eggs that she made in a mold. Basically she melted some chocolate and stirred in the following:

1) Freckles

2) Ferrero Rocher

3) Guillian Seashells

4) Fantales

Maybe some rice bubbles too. I don't know. It's the craziest egg ever. I dissected it so you can see one of the ferrero rochers (my fave) which i promptly popped out and scoffed!

This little gem was taken last night. Maki is having his family dog Oscar over for a visit for a few days and I managed to get a shot of both the animals together. They are strange.. they are semi-ignoring eachother. Oscar is a bit wary of Chester, he has a few hang-ups due to being beat up by feral cats a lot in his youth. How tragic! Chester, i think, just kind of wishes Oscar would go away or make a friendly gesture to seal the deal. They don't really even look at each other, it is strange. 10 POINTS IF ANYONE CAN GUESS WHAT I WAS WATCHING

This is me starting my career in either Private Investigative work... or as a stalker. 'Professional' stalker..? serial stalker?? Whatever. I was walking behind these dudes this morning on my way to work and couldn't help but notice the kid had on this fucking crazy back-pack. I didn't want to stare directly into its felt eyes or else it might suck my skin clean off my body leaving a muscly bloody nightmare strolling along the Melbourne streets! Lucky for me they ducked into a child care centre mere seconds after I took the picture so i was spared... this time.

Stay tuned for some more strange pictures and stuff. After listening to so many podcasts and interviews with strangers lately I am overwhelmed with this sense that I could, nay SHOULD, interview strangers on my blog. This way I can be fascinated by people in REAL TIME, and also share some of Melbourne culture with y'all. However i don't think i look so credible with my point and shoot Sony digi-cam. Maybe if I had one of those big 'fuck-off' lenses people would think I was credible and actually let me photograph them. Maybe i should start small by interviewing people I know, and then progress to randoms at the tram stop. Hey i work at a back-packer hostel so there is plenty of interesting material right under me! just you wait....